At Tuesday’s selectboard meeting, Chair Ted Murray warned that the Special Town Meeting slated for 7 p.m. tonight may be challenged. The grounds for the challenge are that Town Hall, where the meeting is scheduled to be held, is not in complete compliance with state regulations governing handicapped accessibility.
Murray has been in touch with Fire Chief Del Haskins to ask that firefighters be on duty at both the walkway into the building and at the lift to assist any handicapped people in gaining access to the building. The paving stones of the walkway have been disturbed by frost and the lifts have had problems in the past. Murray reported that he has also tested the lifts to make sure they are in good working order.
On the advice of town counsel, the board will ask participants if there are any objections before the meeting begins. If any are raised, the meeting will have to be postponed for at least two weeks for proper posting and moved to Sanderson Academy. Murray said the postponement will not only delay the hiring of an interim police chief, but will impact other important town business. It will also distract the two remaining board members at a time when they need to focus on preparing the budget for the next fiscal year.
Murray also said that the selectboard will be meeting with the finance committee at 6:30 p.m. to try to find another source of savings in the budget, so that funds will not have to be drawn from the Belding Park Restoration Fund. He said the use of the park fund is the most controversial issue on the special town meeting warrant.
David King
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Just a note that years ago, selectboard members were reminded that the stones laid out for the walkway, which are one of the problems concerning the Disabilities Act, were a bad idea. We as towns people have to pay for the lack of abiding by the laws once again. Who's responsibility was it to make sure that what is good for one is good for all????
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